A horrific attack united a nation

Published 12:00 am, Saturday, September 10, 2016

On Sept. 14, 2001, President George W. Bush embraces firefighter Bob Beckwith in front of the collapsed World Trade Center. Through unity, America moves forward.

On Sept. 14, 2001, President George W. Bush embraces firefighter Bob Beckwith in front of the collapsed World Trade Center. Through unity, America moves forward.

Photo: Associated Press / File Photo

A horrific attack united a nation

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Television shrinks the world, makes it more immediate, more accessible, taking us places we may not want to be.

No American wanted to be in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, but television took us there anyway, transporting us to a scene of almost unimaginable horror.

A plane crashed into the World Trade Center that morning, followed by another a few moments later, turning the twin towers into a burning receptacle of death and destruction — some 3,000 killed, 6,000 others injured.

We watched, horrified, as a plume of ugly, black smoke billowed over the rubble — smoke that seemed to envelop the country, from Manhattan to San Francisco.

“What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met,” David Levithan wrote in a book that came out after the attacks, “Love is the Higher Law.”

That day changed everything.

Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked those planes, we soon learned, along with two others that caused far less destruction.

Fifteen years later, we recognize one truth: The world we know today — a world of fear and insecurity — was born on that day.

We can debate whether our response to the attack was wise — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the subsequent withdrawals or partial withdrawals from both countries — but one thing we can never debate is the need for constant vigiliance. Al-Qaida has been replaced by ISIS, but the threat is just as formidable as it was then. Perhaps more so.

We are still at war, a war unlike any we have ever waged — undeclared, but no less horrific for being undeclared. The enemy seems everywhere, with the ability to strike at any time, and the victims are usually innocent noncombatants. Terrorists do not respect the “rules of engagement.”

Whatever tactics our political and military leaders use against this threat, one thing this great nation must never do is plunge to the level of our enemies. That means torture is out. Torture and targeting the families of terrorists — all the ugly strategies we have heard in this long and divisive presidential campaign.

When we use the tactics of our enemy, we become our enemy. And all the ideals that made this country great — including justice and equality — would evaporate. We would lose our identity and, thus, the war. That must never happen.

If anything positive emerged from that assault on our country 15 years ago, it was the spirit of the American people. We did not turn against each other, liberals on one side and conservatives on the other. We stood together. We were all New Yorkers on 9/11.

“I can hear you,” President George W. Bush declared through his bullhorn, standing on ground zero of the attacks. “The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

We learned an important lesson on that horrible day. An attack against one American is an attack against all Americans.

Yes, we have lost that unity in the 15 years that have passed since that tragic day, some of those divisions stoked by unscrupulous politicians. But we are still Americans, our similarities stronger than our differences — whether political, cultural or racial.

And it is through our unity that we will triumph over the evil that plagues our planet.